One beautiful, early fall day in October, I went to Antietam Battlefield with some friends and we took Polly along.

It was perfect weather with beautiful blue skies and pleasant temperatures. The battlefield is a wonderful place to go hiking and that was our goal for the day. Of course, the beautiful day had us stopping frequently to take pictures along the way. We even met and talked to several groups of people who were curious about a frog accompanying us on our hike.

Antietam Battlefield is located near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Battle of Antietam was fought there on September 17, 1862. Sometimes it’s called the Battle of Sharpsburg, and was part of the Maryland Campaign. This was where the first major battle in the American Civil War on Northern soil took place. There were about 23,000 casualties there, making it the bloodiest battle to take place in a single day in American history.

We’re very lucky to live close to a place like this and like to take advantage of that by visiting the area frequently.

Polly is sitting on a stone fence with rolling hills and zigzag split rail fences in the background. Split rail fences were a major source of firewood for both Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War.